Clash of Civilizations with Nihilism

Bankers vs. Civilizational Revolutions

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Civilizations

Several, somewhat similar albeit not identical definitions for the term ‘civilization’ exist:

§  Oxford Reference:[1] A stage of social development identified by formation of organized communities, permanent settlements, with oral or written records and history, traditions, religious faiths, laws, shared values, customs, beliefs, and artistic achievements. Other features include specialized occupations, commerce, reliance on trade, and multiple societal sectors, including health care, educational, defense and security services

§  Cambridge dictionary:[2]  Human society with its well developed social organizations, or the culture and way of life of a society or country at a particular period in time.

It is clear from the definitions above that “civilization” refers to organized societies or communities. The unique features of societal organization including its traditions, religion, laws, values, and customs form the characteristics of a civilization.

Furthermore civilization implies a community or society that existed for a significant period of time extending over centuries or millennia. Societies as any living beings or organizations are primarily focused on survival and wellbeing. Civilization thus refers to religions, forms of governance, laws, culture, traditions, way of life that have evolved over extended periods of time in various communities towards the continuous betterment of communal life. Religions are central to civilizations as they set standards for morality, relations within the family, the community, business conduct and in particular with the “other”, i.e. other communities within the extended human family.

By definition therefore ‘civilization’ is the result of an evolutionary process refined over centuries or millennia during which roots in the communal psyche grow and are reinforced. An ideology that is successful in gaining widespread approval, and succeeds in being adopted or is imposed on a particular society does not make for a ‘civilization’. Fascist and communist ideologies are recent illustrations of the importance of the time factor. Despite the great developmental strides achieved within short periods of time in Italy and Germany in the 1930s, fascism did not weather the test of time, and was rapidly marginalized. The USSR which achieved status of superpower in the 20th century, crumbled like a house of cards despite achieving great strides in diverse fields. Communism in Eastern European nations did not fare much better than in the USSR. Not much of communist ideology remains in these countries, whereas Russia,[3] Croatia, Hungary,[4] and Poland[5] have witnessed a gradual resurgence of their civilizational religions, Christian Orthodoxy in Russia and Catholicism in Hungary, Croatia and Poland.

Civilization applies to a community not individuals. A deep rooted civilization is proof of a successful evolutionary process in which the community’s long term wellbeing and survival is prioritized. It is the historical survival of a particular community that develops it into a civilization; otherwise it will disappear from history. It must be noted however, that disappearance of a civilization is not always indicative of failure of that civilization. Numerous civilizations were wiped out during the ‘Age of Discovery’[6] by genociding the populations of the ‘New World’.

Liberalism a Nihilist Ideology

Liberalism with its focus on the individual as opposed to the community cannot therefore be considered as a phase of civilizational development, rather it is a destroyer of civilizations and promoter of nihilism as discussed below.

Liberalism was promoted in Western Europe to replace Catholicism which placed restrictions on money power by imposition of morality on business transac­tions and the prohibition of usury. Recalling the earlier quote of R.H. Tawney:[7]

There is a moral authority to which considerations of economic expediency must be subordinated. There is no place in medie­val theory for economic activity which is not related to a moral end.

It is right for a man to seek such wealth as is necessary for a livelihood in his station. To seek more is not enterprise, but avarice, and avarice is a deadly sin …

… payment may properly be demanded by the craftsmen who make the goods, or by the merchants who transport them, for both labor in their vocation and serve the common need. The unpardonable sin is that of the speculator or the middleman, who snatches private gain by the exploitation of public neces­sities.

… usury in particular, as an offence against morality specifical­ly [is] forbidden by both the church and public policy.

Thus, liberalism developed with the advent of mercantilism and the hollowing the West European millennial civilization, by marginalizing Catholicism and replacing monarchic governance with parliamentarian democracies, was essential for the rise of the Money Powers[8] that usurped sovereignty of Western nations:[9]

The modus operandi of the Money Powers for gaining control of nations went like this: Start by cancelling the dominant ideology (Catholicism) by replacing it with other Christian sects or appealing to lofty ideals such as ‘Universal Rights of Man,’ ‘Liberté, égalité, fraternité’, ‘democratic secularism’, ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’.  Follow that by eliminating centralized political power, and replacing it with elected parliaments, thereby facilitating the means to gain control of the state, and after that, establishing privately owned ‘national’ central banks un­der Money Powers’ control.[10]

Just as Catholicism in Western Europe constrained rise of Money Powers by condemning usury; Orthodox Christianity, and Islam prohibited usury. Hinduism and Buddhism placed limits on usury. Usury being the principal instrument of Money Powers, hence their obsession with marginalizing religions, and consequently civilizations. Liberalism provided the alternate ideology and democracy the enabling political system for consolidating their power. Materialism replaced religious spirituality, with the label ‘consumer’ frequently replacing that of ‘man’.

Destruction of Civilizations

“New World” civilizations were “successfully” destroyed in the “Age of Discovery”; where it was not possible to destroy civilizations by genocide, these were marginalized during the colonial and neo-colonial eras by imposition of Western norms on the colonized nations. This can be readily attested to by the fact that forms of governance have essentially been homogenized, with parliamentarian democracies dominating the globe. The same applies to cultures and traditions. Western music, movies, clothing styles and food have to a large extent replaced indigenous cultures and traditions. In particular Western business models, financial and monetary constructs were imposed globally.

Millennial religions, the core of civilizations, have been cancelled or greatly marginalized. Rather than providing active frameworks for morality, value systems, guidance for daily life and for social interaction, they have mostly been relegated to folklore.

Neoliberalism and associated globalization era in the 1980s provided Money Powers with a free reign, accelerating the assault on remnants of civilizations globally, leading to the spread of nihilism, with its ultimate form ‘wokeism’.

Money Power’s Revolutions

The major revolutions in history were actually Money Power’s revolutions, suffice to mention Britain’s Glorious Revolution,[11]^,[12] the French[13] and Bolshevik[14] revolutions which were financed by foreign bankers.

An interesting case is the widely touted American Revolution, discussed in Tereza Corragio’s “How to Dismantle an Empire”.[15] Rather than gain independence, the British colonies of North America lost what little independence they had in the revolution and the subsequent Constitution.

By the 18th century Britain was already a vassal state to the Money Powers who owned the Bank of England. In the North American colonies, successful monetary experimentation using paper scrips were being undertaken, particularly in Pennsylvania under the guidance of Benjamin Franklin.[16]^,[17] This money was out of control of the Money Powers, therefore an end to this heresy was necessary. This was achieved by the banker financed “American Revolution”. This is best reflected in the Chicago’s Heald Square Monument with George Washington and bankers Robert Morris and Haym Salomon on either side.

Heald Square Monument[18]

Haym Solomon is credited with victory of George Washington’s army in the decisive battle of Yorktown:[19]

Haym Salomon was born in Leszno, Poland, in 1740. In 1770, he was forced to leave Poland for London as a result of the Partition of Poland. Five years later, he left London for New York City, where he quickly established himself as a broker for international merchants.

If not for Haym Salomon, however, the decisive victory at Yorktown never would have happened.

After marching through Pennsylvania, with little in the way of food and supplies, Washington’s troops were on the verge of mutiny. They demanded a full month's pay in coins, not congressional paper money which was virtually worthless, or they would not continue their march. Washington wrote to Robert Morris saying he would need $20,000 to finance the campaign. Morris responded that there was simply no money or even credit left. Washington simply wrote, “Send for Haym Salomon.” Within days, Haym Salomon had raised the $20,000 needed for what proved to be the decisive victory of the Revolution.

Although there is little proof, many believe that when designing the American Great Seal, George Washington asked Salomon what he wanted as compensation for his generosity during the war. Salomon responded “I want nothing for myself, rather something for my people.” It is for this reason that the 13 stars are arranged in the shape of the Star of David.

Noting that Money Powers have historically transcended national borders,[20] whether the colonies were nominally subjects of the British Crown or nominally independent is irrelevant, the key issue is that they be vassals to the Money Powers.

Civilizational Heritage the Defining Feature of Revolutions

By definition a revolution is the uprooting of an existing oppressive system. A ‘true’ revolution is one that serves the long-term interests of the population. Realizing that a revolution is directed against the entrenched powers that controls media, finance, security and military establishments, therefore a lot of blood needs to be spilled by the revolting population over an extended period of time. Marginal groups, lone wolves, or terrorist acts neither make nor contribute to a revolution.

A revolution necessitates the coalescence of the majority of a population with the revolution and against the oppressors, this therefore necessitates that the revolution be based on the civilizational heritage of a community.

For society to be willing to sacrifice lives continuously in a long term struggle, it should have deep spiritual convictions. Thus for a revolution to succeed on its own without support of geostrategic actors, it must be rooted in the religious civilizational heritage of the population. Classic examples are the Hoa Hao and Cao Dai Buddhist sects in Vietnam, the Iranian Islamic Revolution, the Hezbollah resistance movement in Lebanon and the Ansar Allah in Yemen.   

Relationship Between Civilization and Sovereignty

United Nations recognition does not impart sovereignty to a nation. The degree to which the civilizational heritage is preserved and thriving in daily life of a community is the true measure of sovereignty. By this metric, it is clear that few countries are sovereign in the 21st century.

In the past decades, resistance to liberal nihilism has emerged, most noticeably with the Islamic Revolution in Iran. Economic oppression of neoliberalism and the associated widespread misery has been the contributing factor in civilizational revival, as witnessed in revival of Orthodoxy in Russia, Catholicism in Hungary, Confucianism in China,[21] Islam in Iran,[22] and indigenous cultures in Latin America and Africa. Even in Europe where liberalism is entrenched, calls for revival of Catholic civilization[23] as an alternative to nihilism are being heard.  

Thus, civilization is closely intertwined with sovereignty. Without sovereignty the indigenous civilization cannot be preserved within a society, similarly without preservation of a society’s civilization it cannot be sovereign.

Clash of Civilizations and Nihilism

The geopolitical upheaval the world is witnessing today is not a clash of “West vs. East” or Global North vs. Global South, rather it is a clash between nihilism promoted by the Money Powers and civilizations globally. This explains the mosaic of loose alliances between very diverse political systems including Orthodox Russia, Islamic Iran, communist China and Korea, African Sahel, Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Laos, Myanmar, etc. The main differentiating factor lies in whether the political system is designed to serve the Money Powers or to serve society, regardless of what shape the political system assumes. Naturally a system based on civilizational heritage is more robust to attacks by the Money Powers empire, as was evidenced in numerous cases. Two illustrative examples are the Soviet Union which despite its technological and military might, disappeared into the sunset. Democratic Iran was easily toppled by a coup d’état,[24] whereas the Islamic Republic in Iran based on the Islamic civilizational heritage, was able to withstand over four decades of destabilization attempts, and simultaneously achieve phenomenal across the board development.[25]

In conclusion the world is not witnessing “The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order”,[26] rather the world is witnessing the clash of civilizations with nihilism and the end of the old-world order.

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[1] Civilization, Oxford Reference, 2024

[2] Civilization, Cambridge dictionary, 2024

[3] Russian Orthodoxy Resurgent: Faith and Power in the New Russia, Mary Elizabeth Malinkin, Kennan Institute, Wilson Center

[4] Eastern Europe’s Christian Reawakening, Filip Mazurczak, Jan 17, 2014

[5] Polish Vote Marks Resurgence of Conservative Catholic Values, VOA, Oct 27, 2015

[6] The Age of Discovery, History Guild

[7] R. H. Tawney, Religion and the Rise of Capitalism a Historical Study (Angelico Press, 1921), 39.

[8] Money Power is the power exercised by the wielders of money in a society.

[9] Fadi Lama, WHY THE WEST CAN’T WIN: From Bretton Woods to a Multipolar World, (Clarity Press, 2023)

[10] Fadi Lama, WHY THE WEST CAN’T WIN: From Bretton Woods to a Multipolar World, (Clarity Press, 2023)

[11] Glorious Revolution, Mark Cartwright, World History, Sep 9, 2022

[12] The Banker Who Helped William of Orange Conquer England Dies, David B. Green, Haaretz, Apr 22, 2015

[13] Carrol Quigley, Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in Our Time (Macmillan, 1966), 47.

[14] Financing of Bolshevik Revolution

         i.            JP O’ Malley “Trotsky’s day out: How a visit to NYC influenced the Bolshevik revolution”, Times of Israel, Sep 19, 2016

       ii.            SM “HIDDEN HISTORY: Who Financed Bolshevik Revolution?”, Rielpolitik, Jan 26, 2020

[15] How to Dismantle an Empire, Tereza Coraggio, Third Paradigm Press, Jun 6, 2021

[16] ibid

[17] Our Country, Then and Now, Richard C. Cook, Clarity Press, Jan 1, 2024

[18] Antonio Vernon, photographer, Wikimedia

[19] Haym Salomon: The Man Who Financed the American Revolution, A Jewish American Hero, Yosef Kaufmann, Chabad, Jul 3, 2021

[20] Fadi Lama, WHY THE WEST CAN’T WIN: From Bretton Woods to a Multipolar World, (Clarity Press, 2023)

[21] Tianlong Yu, The revival of Confucianism in Chinese schools: A historical-political review, Asia Pacific Journal of Education, Jun, 2008

[22] Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, UNHCR, Oct 24, 1979

[23] La France Retrouvée, Stanislas Berton, Broché, Jan 31, 2021

[24] In declassified document, CIA acknowledges role in ’53 Iran coup, Dan Merica and Jason Hanna, CNN, August 20, 2013.  

[25] 30 Years in Science, Secular Movements in Knowledge Creation, Science Metrix, 2010.

[26] The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, Samuel P. Huntington, Simon & Schuster, 1996